A hundred days certainly do not make a presidency, but it could be a matter of life and death for the vulnerable community.
To say “so far, so good”—as how the Inquirer’s editorial “Issues beyond 100 days” (10/10/22) labeled the first 100 days of the Marcos Jr. administration—is an overstatement, considering the dilemmas that are of critical urgency but were otherwise neglected by the administration. President Marcos Jr. saying that economic recovery gets top priority does not tone well with the current state of the country—a rising inflation rate of 6.9 percent as of September, with 42 percent of Filipinos dissatisfied with the administration’s response to such soar, based on the Pulse Asia survey.
Comparably, Mr. Marcos has secured billions of dollars worth of foreign investments yet imposed an P11-billion and P893-million budget cut on education and hospitals, concurrently. Really at this time of resumption of face-to-face classes and the battering pandemic? Bafflingly enough, the country remains in a public health crisis yet no Department of Health secretary has been appointed just as how the President, being an acting agricultural secretary himself, has laid no plans in alleviating the country’s food security problems.
Unquestionably, the presidency is not a “hundred-day sprint,” but the country needs urgency and may die waiting too long for help!
Shane Liway R. Eligado,
Nueva Ecija